Swift has described the album as “romantic”, although has asked fans not to anticipate a record full of “happy” songs.

“The idea of something being romantic, it doesn’t have to be a happy song,” she told fans on her Instagram. “You can find romance in loneliness or sadness or going through things in your life… it just looks at those things through a romantic gaze.”

Swift also told Vogue the album is a “love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory.”

Here’s everything you need to know about it:

Tracklisting

Swift waited until almost the last minute before announcing the tracklisting of Lover.

Less than a week before the record was due to release, she revealed that the album will span 18 tracks, more than any of her six previous studio albums.

Interestingly, some have pointed out that the track ‘Cruel Summer’ shares its name with a 2012 compilation released through Kanye West’s Good Music label.

Swift and West have not been on the best of terms, ever since he stormed the stage at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and declared that Beyoncé “had one of the best videos of all time!”

The album also features a collaboration between Swift and country group Dixie Chicks on the track, ‘Soon You’ll Get Better’.

The band – who have been active since 1989, the year of Swift’s birth – have been a long-standing influence on Swift.

“The Dixie Chicks were making such interesting music and doing it in such an unapologetically feminine, imaginative way,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

What does the artwork look like?

(Image: Republic Records)

The album artwork for Lover features a picture of Swift against a backdrop of pastel colours, and was shot by 24-year old Colombian artist, Valheria Rocha.

Dixie Chicks’ influence on Swift extended beyond the music and into the album’s aesthetic.

“I was very inspired by the album Fly and the aesthetics,” she told Entertainment Weekly, “because it was very clear they had really put a lot into the artwork.

“It got my brain thinking bigger in terms of, you know, you make an album, but then you can choose an entire look and color palette and aesthetic and symbolism and imagery and backstories — that you can really make an album even more of an experience if you so choose.”

When can I listen to it?

Lover will be released worldwide on Friday 23 August.

The album will be released both on CD and for digital download and streaming platforms, and comes in both standard and deluxe editions.

The deluxe edition comes in four versions, each containing a CD, two bonus audio memos and a blank journal, with different bonus content of Swift’s old diary entries, photos, and a poster.

The cheapest place i could find to order the standard edition of the album is Amazon (£11.99).

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